020 7898 0500It was a fairly quiet end to the week for US economic data, which was perhaps just as well given the attention that the Kavanaugh hearing has garnered around the world. On Thursday, both Ford and Kavanaugh gave testimony, with many praising the dignity and bravery of Dr Ford. Kavanaugh came out all guns blazing in what was an extraordinary way to address Capitol Hill. Many have said it was a performance straight from the Trump playbook.
In the end, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kavanaugh’s nomination, but only if a further inquiry was carried out on the ‘credible’ claims against him, following demands from Senator Jeff Flake. The inquiry’s expected to be completed within a week. Without a clear end to the whole affair, the dollar stayed relatively stable against the pound throughout the weekend.
Personal income and spending figures for August both came in at 0.3% (income had been expected to be 0.4%), but no movements occurred off the back of those releases. The only other notable release was the final reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment which was revised down to 100.1 in September from a preliminary reading of 100.8. However, this was higher than the 96.2 recorded in August and was above 100 for only the third time since January 2004.
As with the UK and eurozone, in America we will see the manufacturing PMI reading for September. The ISM figure hit an impressive figure of 61.3 last month and is expected to drop a little to 60.5. Any reading over 50.0 shows growth, so if the reading meets expectations it really is rather impressive.
